Player and fan Flaherty won his way into Princeton University on a hockey scholarship.

The only Canadian Finance Minister to have been so-named, Mr. Flaherty was named Finance Minister of the Year by EUROMoney Magazine.

The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Member of Parliament for Whitby-Oshawa was afforded a rare honour by the country he served so well: a State Funeral.

Mr. Flaherty suffered from a rare skin disease called Bullous pemphigoid. His condition was treated with steroids, which may in fact have contributed to his death.

In his Budget 2008, Flaherty put forth a measure called the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA). It went into effect on January 2, 2009.

Flaherty was a friend of the family of Toronto’s beleaguered Mayor, Rob Ford. When things went very publicly wrong for the Mayor, Flaherty was publicly teary-eyed about his long-time friend and a man who he had supported for many years.

In one of his earlier Federal Budgets, the Finance Minister didn’t buy a new pair of shoes—a customary practice. Instead, he bought a new pair of hockey skates for one of his sons.

According to The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson, Flaherty could be funny when he wanted to be. On that Simpson once said: “He could actually tell a joke, including on himself, which made him stand out in a government that is utterly without humour.”